By Hal Collier
We had a captain who was a good guy. Not all street cops like or understand their captains. Captains are the ones who call an officer into his office and give him his penalty for some misconduct. Anyway this captain was liked by most cops and all supervisors. I thought he would appreciate a good practical joke. I had my wife, Terri, buy a “for sale” sign. I wrote on it “For Sale, Cheap, make an offer, I have to leave the country” I placed the sign on the captain’s police car, parked in the station parking lot. I used my probationer as a look out, even though he thought he would get fired. I even took a couple of pictures.
The Detective Lieutenant saw the sign, ripped it off and stormed into the captain’s office. The lieutenant wanted an investigation and wanted some cop to fry. The captain saw the humor and told the lieutenant to let it go. Whew, I might make retirement yet. I waited a few weeks, had the picture developed and placed in a small frame that Terri bought for me. I snuck into the captain’s office and placed the picture next to his family photos. Six months later the picture was still on his desk. Someone told me the picture was on his desk at his new assignment downtown.
See why he was liked?
Hal